Welcome Back
by Crystal
Summary: A Filler in between Batman, the Animated Series and Batman Beyond. Just tying up a few loose ends here and there. First Part of a Trilogy.
1. Welcome Back, Chapter 1: Homecoming

TITLE: Welcome Back

TIME: 20 years before Batman Beyond

COMMENTS: Watching BB, I had always figured that they had just ignored the comic book canon as far as Barbara Gordon was concerned. They in one episode they made reference to the bullet holes being taken out of her Batgirl costume, and I thought, hey, maybe they didn't ignore the whole Oracle period. And so I meshed that with something I've wanted to write for a while and here it is. Hope you like it.

FEEDBACK: Yes! Please! [Crystal@SunnydaleHigh.zzn.com][1]

DICLAIMER: I don't own these characters. If I did, I wouldn't be posting on the web, trust me. 

She kept hearing the conversation in her mind over and over as she drove. It seemed like something unreal. There she was, just casually watching television, eating dinner, as the phone rang. She picked it up and heard a familiar voice.

"Barbara… its Tim." Tim. Tim Drake. But he wasn't Tim Drake to her; he was the third Robin. The young-un. Sure, it had been 8 years since he had hung up his cape, opting for a college education… and a real life. And it had been a decade since she had turned hers in, but it was forever her realm of identification. She knew that he saw her as Batgirl, as well.

"Tim, how are you?

He took a deep breath. "Not good." Barbara's heart sank as she thought of what could be wrong. "Listen, I know you're not on the best terms with Bruce, but…"

Barbara cut him off. "No, Tim. I have nothing to say to him."

"He's had a heart attack, Barbara."

The words cut her like a knife. "A hear… is he…. How is he?"

"He's in Gotham General. Listen, he's doing better, but he needs someone to be there. I can't get home and you're the closest thing he has to kin there."

Barbara swallowed hard. 

"Listen, I know what I'm asking of you, but he needs you. You're all he has there."

She took a deep breath. "Gotham General?"

"Yes. They're only letting a few people in because they're trying to keep it quiet, so I'll call them and tell them you're coming."

"All right."

"Thank you, Barbara. You have no idea how much this means to me, or him for that matter. He misses you."

"I'm only going because _you _asked, as long as we have that clear."

"I know. I guess it's too much to expect a major reconciliation by the time I get there, huh?"

"Yes. Far too much."

Now Barbara was on her way to see Bruce. The man she had been avoiding for the past, oh, four years. The only way she even knew what was going on with him was either through the society pages of the Gotham Times, which she tried to avoid like the plague, and through Tim. 

She was proud of Tim for sticking by him, she had to admit that. One by one, he had driven all of them away. First Dick, the first Robin, then after Jason Todd's death, he was never the same as far as Barbara was concerned. After she was shot by the Joker, their relationship changed even further, and then after she had introduced him to the last Batgirl, he began to close her off. He had always been reclusive, but he now cut her off completely. Maybe he just learned better with Tim… or maybe Tim just had a more forgiving temperament than she and Dick had had. 

But that wasn't the straw that broke her back, so to speak. It was when he tracked Jason down, that was when it all went to hell. Jason Bard had been the first man she had actually loved since… well, since Dick, irony of all ironies. He had gone up to the mountains to go on a ski holiday, when his cabin was destroyed in an avalanche.However, when Batman heard from Nightwing that Jason Bard had set up home in Bludhaven, he couldn't help but go find out. Turns out, Jason wasn't all he seemed. She had felt distance growing between them ever since she had been paralyzed, but it was more than just that. Jason had found someone new and instead of hurting Barbara and just right out leaving her, he chose to fake his own death. "A kinder way," he had told her when she had found him. She found it easier to forgive Jason than Bruce, though. She still thought of the day when she went to his offices. Bruce was happy to see her, at first, she didn't usually venture out much in the wheelchair… more of an inconvience thing than of pride. 

"That is _it_, Bruce! That is the final straw. Jason was gone from my life. I was _finally_ starting to forget him, and you have to go and do this. It's done, now. I'm not your little do-girl anymore and I want you out of _my _life!"

She could see he was shaken by her harsh words to him. "Barbara, I was just trying…"

"No!" She cut him off sharply. "No more. Stay away from me, and stay out of my life. And that's the final word on the subject." With that she turned around and wheeled out. 

In the past few years, she had seen him very little. He had tried to see her at first, but after a while, finally got the idea that she was serious… that he had pushed yet another person away from him. Since then, she had only seen him a few times, never of her own doing. Time, forever the optimist, would try to reconcile them, every so often. He just couldn't understand. He couldn't understand that after so long, Bruce began to think that he ran your life. That whatever happened, he was responsible for righting. And when all you wanted to do was move on… there he was, keeping you in the past. Other than those times, and a few society events she had ventured out for, she only saw him once… at her father's funeral. 

She arrived at the hospital and was escorted up to his room. He was sleeping when she entered, a good thing considering she really didn't know what she'd say had he been awake. _He'll probably ask me what I'm doing here. What do I say? Because Tim asked me? Because I care? Because I wanted to see if it was possible for the great Bruce Wayne to fall? I'll just sit here and wait and hopefully, Tim will get here sometime tomorrow._

"Barbara?" 

She stirred from her awkward position in the chair when she heard a voice weakly calling her name. She almost didn't recognize that it was Bruce calling her, as he had woken up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"Yeah. Do you need something?"

He inched himself up more to look at her, and she got a good look at him for the first time. This wasn't the Bruce she had known. This Bruce was pale, with large bags under his eyes. _Probably from working too much… but which job, if not both._ He looked thin, too, like he hadn't been keeping himself as well. 

"What are you doing, here, Barbara?" 

She stood and walked over by his bed. "Tim can't get into the city, so he called me and asked me to stay with you."

"And you came?"

She sighed. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"He paid you, didn't he?" Bruce managed to smile weakly.

Barbara laughed softly. "No, Bruce, he didn't."

He reached over and took her hand. "Well, at any case, I'm glad you came. It means a lot."

She swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. Well, Tim asked, so…" She let go of his hand and shifted uncomfortably. "So, how'd it happen?"

"During a meeting, it just happened. Overwork."

"You do work too much, Bruce. You always have. Maybe this is a good thing… it'll give you a chance to rest… take a break. From everything."

He sighed. "I can't do that, Barbara. This city needs me. Especially now that…" he trailed off, but Barbara knew what the end of the sentence was. "Especially now that your father's gone." 

"Well, you're going to have to for a while, so deal with it." 

Bruce was about to protest as a nurse walked in. "Miss Gordon, there's a phone call for you."

"Thanks," she said to the nurse before turning to Bruce. "We'll continue this discussion later."

Bruce walked Barbara out of the room and breathed a sigh. _I knew that she still cared. I knew it._

_ _

_­­­_

__

_ _

Barbara stepped out into the outer room and picked up the phone. "Barbara Gordon speaking."

"It's Tim. How's he doing?

"He seems fine. Weak, but fine."

"That's good. I got a flight for tomorrow night, so I should be there day after. Are you okay with him until then?"

Barbara sighed. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you when you get here."

"Yeah. Thanks again, Barbara."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

She hung up the phone and looked at her watch. It was only a quarter after one in the morning. She had left her house around nine. To her, it seemed like she'd been there forever. Barbara walked back to the door of Bruce's room and saw that he was already fast asleep again. She walked in and pulled the blanket over him. _That's good. Rest. You deserve to. _

She tried to sleep, but couldn't. There were too many thoughts going through her mind, too many memories. She stood, looking out the window at the Gotham skyline, sorting out her emotions. 

I've hated him for so long. Hated him for trying to control my life. For trying to fix every wrong. But to see him there, helpless, weak. Can you really forgive someone for a world of wrongs in one moment? 

Her mind went back to the last time she had seen him. Her father's funeral, only three months before.He went the same way, a heart attack... only his was fatal. She hadn't seen him during the service, and was a mixture of glad and furious at that. As much as she didn't want to see him, he _should _have been there. As she stood at the gravesite after the burial, and after everyone else had left, she heard a voice behind her. 

"Barbara… I'm so sorry."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she casually brushed it off as she turned around to face him. "For what? It was a heart attack, Bruce. There are some things even _you _don't have control over." Those words seemed oddly foreshadowing now. 

"If there's anything I can do…" he offered kindly.

"Oh, like finding him still alive and taking pictures and flaunting them in my face? Is _that _what you can do?" She realized that she came off a bit harshly, but at the time she didn't care.

He lowered his head. "I thought I was doing something good. I was wrong. Are you going to hold that against me for the rest of my life?" 

Barbara shook her head. "This is my father's _funeral, _damnnit! I am _not _doing this here." And with that, she walked away as he called after her. She hadn't seen him since then… even though Tim had tried to reconcile the two numerous times. 

While she stood in the outer room of Bruce's hospital room, Barbara brushed her hair back as a man entered.

A tall man, around thirty entered the room and saw a woman standing by the window. The floor nurses let him in with no problem, so he came to the assumption that Tim must have called and cleared him. Surprising, considering the hard time the kid had given him when he called the first time. The woman stood about five feet, eight inches, he guessed. He wondered who she was… he hadn't heard about Bruce getting a new girlfriend.

"Excuse me, ma'am…."

Barbara stood straighter as she heard the voice behind her. _It can't be… _

"Excuse me, ma'am… are you Mr. Wayne's nurse?"

_It is…. I can't believe it, but it's him. _She responded, still looking at the window. "Dick?"

The woman at the window paused a moment before saying, almost shaking, "Dick?"

_Who is this woman? How does she know my name?_

He took another step into the room. "Yes, and you are?"

Barbara couldn't believe that he didn't recognize her voice. She turned around slowly, silently as she watched Dick's face.

Dick sucked in a breath. "Bar… wow. It's been…. A while."

She said nothing, but scoffed quietly as she walked toward him. 

"Barbara, I… I don't know what to say… I…"

He stopped as she reached him. She looked at him for a second, and took in a breath before pulling back her arm and landing a punch square in his jaw. 

Dick fell onto one of the chairs in the room. _Yep, she's still strong._It wasn't the impact, really, but just the fact that it completely caught him off guard. He stood back up, rubbing his jaw. "Damn, Barbara…"

"Sorry." She said coldly as she walked back to the window. Somehow, he didn't think that it was completely sincere. 

He walked to a seat near her. "So, how are…."

Barbara turned on him and cut him off sharply. "What are you doing here?"

Dick laughed haughtily. "Oh, I just like to make trips up here to walk around the hospital and see if I know anyone," he answered with a smile. 

She frowned. "You don't need to be sarcastic."

"And you don't need to be a bitch." He came back quickly. _Not five minutes here and we're already back into it._

Barbara almost laughed and sat down across from him. She was going to try to be civil. "So, what _are _you doing here? Or moreover, I guess, how'd you hear about it?"

"I noticed that the Dark Knight was missing in action last night. So, I came went down to the manor to see what was going on and no one was there. I called Tim Drake and he told me what happened… albeit begrudgingly." He smiled. "So, what about you?"

"Tim asked me to stay with him, until Tim gets here, that's why," she answered matter-of-factly, as she got up and walked over to the window again.

Dick looked at her standing in awe. The last time he had seen her, she was still confined to her wheelchair. To see her standing there, looking strong again, and more beautiful than ever… and knowing that of all the people on the earth, she probably hated him the most. It was killing him.

"So… you're walking… that's… wow." 

She laughed bitterly. "Yeah. I forgot to thank you for the get well card. It was sweet." She replied sharply. 

"How…? I mean I thought that your spinal cord was…"

She turned to face him. "Shot completely through? Yeah… it was."

He got up and went to her. "I _wanted _to come see you… but I…" he resisted the urge to hold her to him. "I don't know. I just couldn't. So, how? I mean, you're _walking, _Barbara. How's it possible?"

She turned away again. "Doctors can do amazing things with now a days."

He decided to drop the subject and leave it at that. "I… I heard about your father. I'm sorry. I was going to come for the funeral, but I figured you didn't really want me there."

She was silent a moment. "No, you could have come. You had a right to be there. You were like a son to him." She said this all facing away.

Dick decided to change the subject. "How's Bruce doing?"

She turned back and sat down. "Well, he had a heart attack, but he seems to be recovering. He's working too much, that's the simple fact. And he's not as young as he used to be. He needs to hang up the cape."

Dick laughed. "But he won't. You know that. Especially now that your father…" Dick stopped as he realized what he was saying. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're right. From what I've noticed, he's been working double time since Dad died. He needs to slow down… Quit," she answered decisively.

Dick leaned back and shook his head. "You know as well as I do that he can't. This town needs him… he knows that. And more than that even, that cape… that's who he _is_.I think he forgets sometimes where the bat ends and Bruce begins. If there is a line of definition. It's in his blood now… he can't just leave it, just like I couldn't… and neither could you."

She stood up again and walked away. "I _did _leave it, remember? I got shot. I _couldn't _do it anymore even if I had wanted to."

He stood up and followed her. "Exactly!"

She turned to him. "Exactly what?"

"Exactly what you just said," he threw back at her with a laugh. "You got shot. You _couldn't _do it, even if you had _wanted _to." He paused for a moment and then continued. "Remember Black Canary? And then Cassandra Cain? If you couldn't fight yourself, then you sure as hell were going to help someone else do it."

She sat, rigid in her chair, residue of her days in the wheelchair. After being in it for so long, she found it hard to even slouch a little now. She turned her head away from Dick… away from the truth as he continued.

"We're all the same, Babs. You, me, Bruce – all cut from the same cloth."

"NO!" she snapped at him. "I am _nothing _like you two."

"Of course not, Oracle," he said with a snide tone.

She stood up to walk over to him and face him. "How would you like it if I told you the exact same thing? Huh?" He made no motion as she continued. "If I stood here and said to you that you are _exactly_ the same as Bruce. That everything you hate and despise about him you embody yourself. You're no different, either."

His chin held taught, he looked her straight in the eyes. For a moment, she was sure he was about to hit her, but she knew that he couldn't. "Damn it, Barbara…" he started softly. "Why do we do this?"

She looked closely at him for a moment before averting her eyes. "I don't know…" she started to turn away, but he took hold of her arm tightly. "What…. Let go, Dick."

"No," he said through clenched teeth. "We are going to finish this. Right here and now." 

Dick started pulling her over to the chairs in the room. "Finish what?"

He sat her down and then took the seat across from her. "This…" he stated, pointing at the both of them. "This _thing_ that always happens whenever we get within fifty feet of each other. It's been this way for almost ten years, Barbara… we need to grow up and move on… both of us."

She stood up. "Move on? Move _on?_ Grow up? You're the one who decide that since I _had_ moved on that you would dredge up my past and throw it in my face."

He hung his head. "I thought you should know. He was playing you. You _loved _him…"

"I loved _you_." She interrupted without thinking. A split second later, she realized what she had said and the two were silent. Barbara slowly sunk back into the chair. "Can I take that back?"

He shook his head slowly. "No… never."

"I… I _did_ love him," she began, he head turned away, her voice that of a scared little girl. "I did love Jason. And I did mourn when he died… but he was out of my life. Gone. And _you_, of all people had to bring it back up. Why, Dick? Did you want to hurt me? Did you want to see how much I could take? It wasn't enough that I couldn't walk… that I couldn't do what had become so much a part of my life… that my boyfriend, had _died_… no, that wasn't enough for you was it? You _really_ wanted to see me suffer, didn't you?" She looked up at him for the first time since she had started speaking. "Why? What did I do to you that was _so_ horrible that it deserved that kind of punishment?"

He paused a moment, before answering quietly, "You moved on." 

"What?" she asked, tilting her head to try and get a look at his face.

"You moved on… you found someone. Someone who wasn't _me_. Someone who made you happier than I ever did. And it ate me up every single day. And I heard that he had died, and I was happy… not for you, but for… for the possibility that somehow, someway, I could mend the rift that had already grown between us. Make up for leaving you. That was the biggest mistake of my life, Barbara, next to what I did when I found Bard, but I thought that was for the best. I thought you should know what kind of man you had fallen in love with. He was the kind of man who would leave you when you were truly in need."

"I guess I just like the leaving kind then, don't I?" she interjected smartly. 

He stepped out of the chair and knelt by hers, taking her by both arms. "Damnit, Barbara… don't start! Not now. Not again."

She looked him in the eyes. "What do you want me to do, Dick? Forget about everything? Forget about you leaving and never even saying goodbye. Forget about never hearing from you, except when you were ruining my life?"

He shook his head. "No…"

"Then _what_? What do you want, Dick?"

"I want not to come home to an empty apartment and know that I ruined the _only_ good thing I ever had. I want that good thing back."

Barbara's eye began to tear as she shook her head. "Dick, I can't just…"

"Even just as a friend… That's how we started, Barbara, remember. Not even as friends… we couldn't stand each other."

"I can't just forget it all…"

"Why not? Why can't you?"

"Because I wouldn't have expected it from you." She said haltingly. "Anyone else, I could forgive, but not you. You know what it would do to me. And you did it in _spite_ of that… most likely _because_ of that."

"No… I did it because… I don't know why. Yes, I knew it would hurt you, but I didn't care. All I wanted was you back. That's all. I've never loved anyone since you, not the same way as I loved you."

"I know…"

"Then say it!"

"I can't! I just can't!"

"Then say the opposite… Say that you loved Bard even a fraction as much as you loved me and I'll go away again. I'll never bother you again. Go ahead… say it…"

He waited as she looked down at him, tears filling her eyes. "I… I…Dick… don't make me do this…"

"Say it," he said softly. "Say what your heart tells you. That's all I ask."

She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. She was so confused and didn't know what to say. She sat there for what seemed like an eternity before she heard a loud buzzing coming from Bruce's hospital room. She stood up and looked over to the room as nurses and doctors rushed in. Her face paled, as did Dick's and the two slowly walked to the door amidst the chaos and looked in. Barbara, looking as the doctors tried to revive Bruce, placed a hand on the doorjamb for support. Dick, almost unconsciously, wrapped his arms around her waist, protecting her from whatever he could. Barbara took her free hand and placed it on his, holding on for dear life.

To Be Continued…

   [1]: mailto:Crystal@SunnydaleHigh.zzn.com



	2. Welcome Back, Chapter 2: The Dawn

Welcome Back, Chapter 2: The Dawn

Note: This started out as a one shot thing, there wasn't even supposed to be a second chapter, but it's quickly evolved in my mind as a trilogy. Stay tuned for the rest.

Disclaimer: I don't own it… I'm only borrowing. I promise to play nice and return it when I'm done. Thank you, Mr. Kane sir. 

Tim Drake entered the outer room and was surprised to see no one there. _Did Bruce piss her off so much that she left already?_ He questioned in his mind. _But even if he did, Dick should still be around here somewhere… or was that what made he leave. Oh, good lord, I should have known better than to let those two even be in the same _state_ with each other._ Tim walked into Bruce's room and stopped for a moment at the door as he saw the scene inside. _Wow… will times ever change? Huh._

Sitting on one of the side chairs next to the bed was Dick Grayson. Next to him was Barbara Gordon. Stranger to Tim than seeing the two of them together was how they were sitting. Both were asleep and Dick's arms were wrapped around Barbara, whose head was leaning softly on his shoulder. 

_It's just like old times,_ Tim thought, feeling twelve years old again. _Back the way everything used to be._ He remembered the first time he met Dick and Barbara. It was after Dick had become Nightwing, but before he had moved away completely, so while he never saw Dick and Barbara at their closest, he did get to see some of it. In those pre-teen days, he looked up to Dick as an idol. More than he looked up to Bruce, at some times. And Barbara… well, he had to admit that he had a crush on Barbara in those more innocent days. Those days before everything went bad. Before Dick left for good… before Barbara was shot… before she made the break from Bruce. In the years, since though, she had been good to him. No matter how much she despised Bruce, she never shunned Tim because of it. Every Christmas, Birthday, Easter, and other miscellaneous holidays he could count on seeing a card from her in the mail. Real mail, too… not one of those e-card things. And every time he came home on vacation, she made it a point to call him… while Bruce was at work, of course. 

Tim walked to the end of the bed quietly, and looked at the chart. The scraping of the metal attracted the ear of Barbara, who woke up and looked around. "Tim," she said quietly, as she slowly moved out of Dick's arms, trying not to wake him. "When did your plane get in?"

"Just a little bit ago… I came straight here," he said, still looking at the chart. "How's he doing? What happened?"

She stood up, stretched and walked over to him. "He had another heart attack about 3 hours ago. Less severe, but still… we were scared."

"But he's ok, now?" Tim asked, worried.

She nodded assuring. "Yeah. He's stabilized. But it was pretty close." Tim looked over her shoulder at Bruce and she could see the hurt in his eyes. Bruce had never hurt Tim in the ways he had to Dick and herself, so he was taking it twice as hard as they were. "Tim…" she wrapped her arms around him, giving him a sisterly, reassuring hug. He squeezed back tightly. 

"He's going to be ok, right, Barbara?" he asked, looking up at her.

She smiled slightly. "Tim… its Bruce. He's going to be ok. When hasn't he been? He'll come out of it, but he has to learn that he's not twenty-eight anymore. He can't keep doing this. Something's got to bring him around."

Tim nodded. "Yeah. Well, I guess you can go now, Barbara. Thank you so much for coming. I know how much you didn't want to."

She took a slight look back at Dick, still sitting in the chair. "No, I think it was worth it. And I'll stay for a little while. I want to be here when he wakes up."

"Barbara, you've been here almost 24 hours… you need to go home and get some sleep," Tim insisted.

She laughed shortly. "No, I'm fine. Just a little while longer."

"Barbara… please… go home, sleep, take care of yourself."

"No…"

"Yes!" A voice came from the corner. Barbara and Tim looked over to Dick, who was slowly inching himself out of his chair.

"What?" Barbara asked.

He stood up and walked over to them. "Yes… you are going home and you are resting."

Barbara looked at him for a second, about to protest, but finally sighed. "Fine."

Dick stepped back, almost shocked for a moment. _Now, that is unusual. She must be so burned out lately that she's not even putting up a fight to that._ "Okay… let's go. I'm driving you home."

Barbara took her purse from the end table and gave Tim another hug before they left. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Tim watched the two of them leave, and shook his head in wonder. 

In Dick's rental car, he and Barbara sat quiet for a mile out of the hospital. 

"So…." Dick said, breaking the awkward silence. "Bruce should be ok, don't you think?"

"Yeah… yeah," she answered haltingly. "He's Bruce… I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Yeah…" he agreed as the awkward silence returned. "So… what about us?"

Barbara swallowed hard as she looked forward. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… What about us? Are we fine? Ten years of not speaking a civil word to each other, and yet here we are… in the same confined space… and it looks to me that we're getting along fine." He paused. "Are we?"

She stared out the window, not answering, and after a moment pointed out the windshield. "That's my apartment."

He drove up to her place and opened the door for her. "Thank you for the ride, Dick. I'll see you tomorrow." She said professionally and began walking toward the door. Dick followed and took her arm.

"No…answer the question."

She looked at him, her lip trembling. "I can't, Dick. I already told you. I can't just forget that it all happened."

He took both arms and held her close. "I'm not asking you to forget. I'm not asking you to do anything. I just want to know if we're ok. If we can sit down and have a dinner with each other without it breaking down into an out-and-out fight. Can we do that?"

She shook her head. "No, Dick… I can't."

"Why… not?"

He eyes glazed over with tears. "Because, Dick! Beucase you were right. Because I _didn't_ love Jason half as much as I loved you. And I know that if I let even a tiny part of myself _stop_ hating you, that I'm going to fall in love with you again, and I'm am _not_ letting you hurt me again. I am _not _letting you leave me waiting for someone who's never going to show up. I've done that enough and I'm not doing it again. Goodbye, Dick… I'll have Tim drive me over to get my car later." With that she turned and walked away to her door.

"What if I don't go away?" He shouted at her from the sidewalk.

"You will…" she said without even looking back. Barbara unlocked the door and walked inside, never looking back at him. 

Dick stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk. _I'm going to prove it to her… I'll show her that I can do it. I'm not letting her go this time. This time… I'm not leaving._

Barbara looked at the clock next to her bed. It was four in the morning. She had been home since ten that night, and hadn't slept at all. She couldn't stand it anymore, she decided, and put clothes on to take a walk around the block.

When she exited her apartment, the first thing she saw was a large figure standing in the shadows on the sidewalk. She stayed by her door, not knowing who this was.

"I told you I wouldn't leave." The figure said from the shadows as he began to step forward.

"Dick… what?" she didn't understand what was going on. 

"I waited… I've been standing here since you went in your apartment. Since ten o'clock. And I stand here a million more hours if it would prove to you that this time, I'm going to stay." He had reached her doorstep now, and put out a hand to help her down the steps. "I'm _going_ to stay."

She stood there, crying for the upteenth time that night. She took his hand and slowly walked down the steps. "How can I know for sure?"

"Trust me," he said and wrapped his arms around her. They stood there like that for a moment before she broke away. 

"You're freezing… why don't you come in?"

He smiled. "Don't mind if I do."

He took her hand and walked into her apartment with her.

For the first time since Tim had called her earlier that week, Barbara Gordon sleeped peacefully and deeply. And when she woke in the morning, she walked over to the window and opened the curtains, basking in the glow of the new day… the new dawn.

THE END.


End file.
